London from My Windows (26 page)

CHAPTER 27

Here it was, another Monday morning in London. Ava was surprised she could keep track of the days. After the bustle of the party and Franco and Georgie's visit, and the excitement around Queenie's audition (he still hadn't returned; Ava was dying to know how it went), the flat felt unnaturally still. Was it always so quiet? The place seemed more suited to laughter, and the clink of glasses, or even a gasp or two from Queenie. But it was just her, and the dome-shaped windows, and her new mahogany-striped hair, and her emerald stool. Lonely. That's how she felt. It was a new feeling for her; she normally relished being alone. London was spread out before her, offering some comfort. In a city you were never truly alone, now were you? And she had her mother, whom she hadn't spoken with in quite some time.

Ava picked up the phone and called her mother. It went to voice mail. Same as it had most of the other times she'd called. “Hi, Mom. It's Ava. I miss you. I'm sorry that Aunt Beverly wasn't nice to you. I'm sorry we fought. I hope you come visit. Call me.” She hung up.
God. So quiet.
Everyone was probably out
doing
something. Day after day. Was it ever challenging for them to find something new to occupy their time? Didn't anybody just sit around anymore?

Maybe it was time to at least think about tackling something on the list. She'd start with Intermittent Exposure Therapy. It was a commonly used method for phobias. If you were, say, terrified of spiders, the therapist would start acclimating you to your phobia by showing you pictures of spiders. Once you could look at the pictures without clawing your eyes out, they might move on to, say, showing you a live spider in a glass jar. And so on down the line. Ava didn't want to think about it anymore or she was going to develop a fear of spiders. Instead, she'd start with something a little more pleasant.
Sit on a bench in Hyde Park.

Ava shoved the sofa against the bookcase. She set the emerald stool in the middle of the flat. Aunt Beverly had three plants, all ferns. They were situated on the top shelf of the bookcase along the wall. Ava removed the plants and placed them around the emerald stool. She set a chair in front of the stool, and propped up the laptop. She went to YouTube and typed in: “Hyde Park.”

There were multiple videos to watch. They panned over the beautiful yet so very large park. A cheery flute accompanied the video. Hyde Park, a chipper male voice with a London accent told her, was where Londoners went to ride bikes, jog, stroll, take a boat ride, or play with their dogs. The videos showed pictures of Londoners doing just that. It was one of the eight royal parks in London. Ava had to admit that adding the word “Royal” to anything suddenly made it seem a lot more important than your average park.

Three hundred and fifty acres. Wow.
Her heart didn't like hearing that. Soon Ava felt as if she had already jogged or biked or boated through the entire place, all along the Serpentine lake.

A Metropolitan police station was located in the park. Ava wondered if she would feel safer if she sat on a bench near the station. Speakers' Corner was a fascinating discovery. Every Sunday people could come to this corner and speak on any subject. From the videos Ava clicked on, it appeared they mostly argued with one another over religion.

Nearby was the Marble Arch. It used to be at Buckingham Palace until Queen Victoria had it moved when she was renovating.
Imagine. Moving an entire arch. A bit more of a procedure than getting a new gazebo, but apparently she had the pull.
Benches lined the area in addition to a giant horse head sculpture called
Still Water
. There was a memorial to Princess Diana. A granite oval fountain. At places the water ran smoothly; other places it was turbulent, like Diana's life. Ava would have liked to see that, but it would be guaranteed to always be crowded.

This was a waste. Ava clicked off the videos. She could close her eyes and see boats on the beautiful lake, imagine herself eating in one of the restaurants in the park, or strolling hand in hand with Jasper, stopping to kiss on one of the lawns or near Kensington Gardens. But it was only a fantasy. And not even a very good one, because it wasn't long before the little colored dots appeared.

One step at a time. A picture of a spider, then a video of a spider, then—

Ava might just have to settle for London from her windows. The doorbell shrieked through the flat. It was only slightly less deafening than the buzzer to the building. Whoever it was, they were already in, waiting in the hall. Jasper. She had to slow herself down, stop herself from racing to the door as if her life depended on opening it. Play it cool. Casual. She opened the door, and was grinning before she even set eyes on him. When she did, she smiled even wider, for he was grinning ear to ear. God, his blue eyes were so beautiful. Priceless. “Hello,” he said.

“Hi.” She took one step, and he pulled her into him and kissed her. He moved her against the wall in the little hallway and pressed his body against hers, then took her hands and pinned them above her head, keeping them there with one hand, while kissing her neck. Ava sent up prayers of gratitude to the powers that be.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Jasper pulled back. They were both out of breath. “I've been thinking about you round the clock.”

“Me too.”

“I can't get you off my mind. You're like an incurable disease.”

“You really do have to work on the pillow talk.”

Jasper laughed. “Well, how about this? I want you. I've never wanted anybody as much as I've wanted you.”

“I want you too.”

He stepped back slightly and cocked his head. “Your hair.” Ava laughed. She touched it. “Do you like it?”

“You are so incredibly sexy.” Nobody had ever said that to her before. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him inside. He kissed her again. Then kissed her neck. Then her lips again. They were all alone. She could pull him into the bedroom. He seemed to be thinking the same thing until he looked up at the living room. He took in the rearrangement of furniture.

“What were you doing?”

“Forget it. Queenie's gone. Let's go to the bedroom.”

“It looks like you've got a little jungle set up there.” Jasper pointed to the plants.

“I could slip into something a little more comfortable.”

“And you've moved the furniture.”

Ah, barristers. Couldn't walk away from compelling evidence.
“Intermittent Exposure Therapy,” she said. He looked quizzical. “I start by looking at pictures of outside destinations, imagining myself there. This morning my living room has become Hyde Park. For the next step, I'll have someone actually go to Hyde Park, sit on a bench, and film it while I watch on my laptop. And then, hopefully, eventually, I can actually go to the park myself.”

“That's brilliant.” Jasper walked around the plants, then turned back to Ava. “I'll do it. I'll do it right now.”

“Whoa, cowboy. Right now?”

“It's sunny. A quiet Monday. A perfect day to be in the park.” He looked eager. Hillary was right. He loved the outdoors.

“You'd rather run off to Hyde Park than have your way with me?”

Jasper locked eyes with her, and this time the smile that came across his face was confident and sexy as hell. “Oh, don't you worry about that. I'm going to have my way with you. Not even you could stop me.”

“Seriously. You start off good, but you need a bit of coaching.”

Jasper laughed. “Sorry. All this fifty shades shite.” He moved toward her, wrapped his hands around her waist, and pulled her into him. When he spoke, his voice was low, and intimate. “I do want to have my way with you. So very, very badly.”

Ava groaned. “Why not now?”

“Because now, I'm going to the park.” He planted a kiss on her lips, then her nose. “All right?”

“Okay. Let's do it,” Ava said.

Jasper hugged her. “So what do we do? Video chat? I get to the park and video you from my mobile?”

“Are you sure you want to go right now?” Ava hadn't intended on taking it this far today. He was already moving on to the spider-in-a-glass-jar portion of the experiment and she had barely looked at the videos.

“What's wrong? You look pale.”

“If it gets too much, I may have to disconnect rapidly,” Ava said.

“That's okay. You do whatever you have to do.”

“You won't be mad?”

“I am mad. Mad about you.”

“Okay. Shit. Let's do it. You're going to the park.”

“
We're
going to the park.” Jasper kissed her, and was gone.

 

It was over an hour later when Jasper texted that he was ready. Ava sat on her makeshift bench and stared at her computer screen. She brought up the video chat screen. Within seconds, Jasper's face filled the screen. He was grinning like an idiot, and his face was so close to the camera that he could have been anywhere. Total goofball.

“I see you,” Ava said. Abruptly Jasper pulled back, and began to pan over the scenery. Ava caught sight of the the Marble Arch. She cried out.

“Are you okay?” Jasper turned the camera back on himself.

“The Marble Arch!” Ava exclaimed.

“Someone's done her homework. How do you feel?”

“Fine.” Ava took a sip of Scotch from a teacup.

“Ah, good, a cuppa. That will sort you out.” Jasper smiled. Ava smiled.

Ava closed her eyes. It wouldn't be very romantic if she hurled in front of him, but that was a very real possibility. “Can you pan over to the horse head sculpture?”

“Certainly, madame.” She kept her eyes closed. Her stomach felt as if she had just panned over the London Eye. She was starting to feel prickly. “Here it is,” Jasper said.

“Never mind,” Ava said, keeping her eyes glued shut. “Can you just sit on the bench?”

There was a pause. “Certainly.”

Breathe, Ava, breathe. Why was this so damn hard? Why, why, why?
“Faulty wiring!” she shouted.

“Pardon?” Jasper sounded alarmed.

“I have faulty wiring. Right now my skin is prickly, and it's harder to breathe, and little colored dots are dancing in front of me. I don't want to be this girl. This girl who can't even sit on a freaking park bench or kiss you in Kensington Gardens. I don't want to be this girl.”

“Just keep breathing. No need to even open your eyes.” She let his voice wash over her. “I'm here on the bench. We have a spot of sunshine. You're right next me. I have my arm around you, is that all right?”

“Yes.”
Oh, yes.
Ava could feel his strong arm across her shoulder. “You smell good.”

“I do?” Jasper said. “I mean, I do. A very manly cologne I bought just for your smelling pleasure.” Ava laughed. And even though she didn't have her eyes open, she could feel Jasper grinning. “We're having a lovely day, a lovely chat.” He stopped talking.

“Yes?” Ava said. Silence. Was he trying to trick her into opening her eyes? “Are you still there?”

“Sorry, mate, I told you earlier. I don't have any change.” What was he talking about? Was this part of the script?

“You don't have any change?” A man's voice rang out. His accent sounded twangy. He was loud and rude. “In your fancy suit with your fancy briefcase? Why don't you just hand over your wallet and let me see for myself what you've got?”

“Jasper?” Ava opened one eye. Jasper had set the phone in his lap, and Ava saw nothing but the face of a stranger standing over Jasper. He was one big bloke. Scruffy, and red eyed.

“Go away!” Ava yelled.

“It's okay, Ava,” Jasper said. His voice shook. “Why don't you disconnect? We'll do this another time.”

“I'm calling the police!” Ava yelled at the man.

The stranger snatched the phone and brought it even closer to his face.

“Ava,” Jasper called again. “Hang up.” He sounded frightened.

“Who the 'ell are you?” The scruffy bloke's face filled the screen.

“I'm your worst nightmare,” Ava said.

“Is that right?” the bloke said. “How's that? Are you going to jump through the mobile and kick my arse?”

“Jasper is going to kick your arse.”

“Ava,” Jasper pleaded.

“Jasper, is it?” The bloke started laughing and turned his head, apparently to look at Jasper. “That's a very manly name, Jasper. I'm shaking in me boots. Give me your fucking wallet, Jasper.”

“Off with you, mate,” Jasper said. If only he sounded more confident.

The bloke turned the phone to show his own pocket. He reached in and pulled out a knife.

Ava screamed, “No!” Could others in the park hear her? Could they see what was going on in broad daylight? Ava grabbed the laptop and ran to the rotary phone. She picked it up and dialed 999. As she was doing so, the camera panned to Jasper's face. He had gone completely white. “Jasper,” Ava said. Jasper reached into his jacket pocket and removed his wallet. He handed it to the man.

“Emergency. Which service?”

“My friend is being mugged in Hyde Park. On a bench near the Marble Arch. The man is ugly, and scruffy, and red eyed, and he has a knife.”

“You need the police service,” the operator said.

“I don't. My friend does. He's in the park—”

“Is the man with the knife still threatening your friend?”